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Ultimate Spider-Man: Guardians of the Galaxy
"Guardians of the Galaxy" is the eighteenth episode of season two of the animated television series Ultimate Spider-Man and the forty-fourth episode of the series overall. The episode was directed by Tim Maltby with a teleplay written by Brian Michael Bendis and the writing team of Joe Casey, Duncan Rouleau and Steven T. Seagle. It first aired on Disney XD on July 28th, 2013. Synopsis Cast Principal Cast Guest Stars Notes & Trivia * This episode includes a dedication to actor Michael Clarke Duncan, who played the voice of Groot. Duncan passed away from heart failure in Los Angeles, California on September 3rd, 2012. This was his last acting work. Duncan was also known for his performances in films such as Armageddon, Daredevil, Sin City, Planet of the Apes and The Island. * This is the fourteenth episode of Ultimate Spider-Man directed by Tim Maltby. This is also Maltby's second episode on the series as an animation storyboard artist. Tim is also known for his work on the animated series Transformers: Rescue Bots. * This is the fifth episode of Ultimate Spider-Man co-written by Brian Michael Bendis, who is also the primary writer on the entirety of the ''Ultimate Spider-Man'' comic book series. Bendis also serves as consulting producer on the TV series. * This is the thirty-ninth episode of Ultimate Spider-Man co-written by Joe Casey. * This is the thirty-ninth episode of Ultimate Spider-Man co-written by Joe Kelly. * This is the thirty-ninth episode of Ultimate Spider-Man co-written by Duncan Rouleau. * This is the thirty-ninth episode of Ultimate Spider-Man co-written by Steven T. Seagle. * This is the first animated appearance of the Guardians of the Galaxy on Ultimate Spider-Man. * This is the third appearance of Captain America on Ultimate Spider-Man. He makes a cameo appearance only in this episode, demonstrating that even Captain America has to wash dishes at home, among other chores (oddly enough, he is in costume while doing this). * This episode reveals that Aunt May secretly plays Pete's video games when he is not around. * Tana Nile appears as a character on the video game that Pete and Sam are playing only. Allusions * When Spider-Man learns that Rocket Raccoon was Nova's mentor, he has a fantasy of seeing Sam Alexander rooting through garbage with Rocket in a backpack in his back speaking backwards. This is a reference to a scene in the 1980 film Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back where the character of Luke Skywalker trains under Jedi Master Yoda, who rides along with him in a backpack and speaks backwards. * Rocket Raccoon's laser gun is referred to as a "blaster" in this episode. This is another Star Wars reference, in which all hand-held laser weapons are called blasters. * Star-Lord makes reference to several Earth-based superheroes in this episode, noting their value as defenders of the planet. He references the Avengers, the Fantastic Four, the X-Men, Doctor Strange, Captain Marvel, the Hulk, Howard the Duck and Devil Dinosaur. Spidey was more than a little miffed that Star-Lord neglected to include his name on the list. Comic connections * Drax the Destroyer: Drax the Destroyer was originally introduced as a quasi-antagonist in the pages of ''Iron Man'', Volume 1 #55 in February, 1973. The comic version of the character was actually an Earth human named Arthur Douglas, who had been murdered by the Titan, Thanos. Thanos' father, A'Lars, retrieved Arthur's soul and placed it inside an artificial body made from soil, wherein he became the green-skinned muscular humanoid, Drax the Destroyer. A'Lars used Drax as a living weapon against Thanos. In the cartoon however, no reference is made to Drax's connection to Earth, and it is implied that he is actually an alien. * Gamora: Gamora is an alien assassin-turned-freedom fighter. She first appeared in ''Strange Tales'', Volume 1 #180 in June, 1975. Gamora is the last member of the Zen-Whoberian race. She was born on her people's homeworld of Zen-Whoberi some twenty years into the future of the modern era. The Universal Church of Truth committed a massacre on her world, wiping out nearly the entire Zen-Whoberi population. The demagogue Thanos rescued the infant Gamora and raised her as his own. Through Thanos, Gamora was trained in advanced combat fighting techniques and became a master assassin. Traveling backwards in the past with her, Thanos employed her services to eliminate threats to his ever-growing bid for power. Gamora eventually betrayed Thanos and struck out on her own. She aligned herself with Adam Warlock and eventually became a member of the Infinity Watch. She later joined a modern-era incarnation of the Guardians of the Galaxy. * Groot: Groot is a plant-like life-form of the Flora Colossus race from Planet X. The character was originally conceived as a non-Marvel Universe sci-fi monster by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in 1960 in the pages of ''Tales to Astonish'' #13. For years, Groot was simply another of literally dozens of one-shot space monster villains, but like the others, was eventually included in canon continuity. He made his first official "canon" appearance in ''Incredible Hulk'', Volume 2 Annual #5. He later became a member of the second iteration of the Howling Commandos (monster team) as well as one of the main members of the modern-era Guardians of the Galaxy. * Guardians of the Galaxy: The Guardians of the Galaxy was originally conceived as a cosmic superhero team from the 31st century, who were introduced in the pages of ''Marvel Super-Heroes'' #18 in January, 1969. The name was recycled for a modern-era incarnation of the team, which is what the Guardians featured in this episode are based on. This iteration of the group was introduced in the first issue of their own ongoing series, ''Guardians of the Galaxy'', Volume 2. Although the team roster has fluctuated some since their inception, the core members of the group, Star-Lord, Drax the Destroyer, Groot, Gamora and Rocket Raccoon, are all represented relatively faithfully in this episode. * Korvac: Michael Korvac is from an alternate future timeline designated Earth-691. He was a foe of the 31st century version of the Guardians of the Galaxy, but has also traveled back in time to battle with modern-era heroes such as the Avengers and the Defenders. The character was created by Steve Gerber, Jim Starlin and Len Wein and first appeared as the central antagonist in ''Giant-Size Defenders'' #3 in January, 1975. Michael Korvac was turned into a cyborg by the alien race known as the Badoon, who removed the lower half of his body and grafted the top half onto a hover-cube. The experience ultimately drove Korvac insane, and he rebelled against his Badoon masters, slaughtering them. * Rocket Raccoon: Rocket Raccoon was introduced in the sixth story in ''Marvel Preview'' #7 in the Summer of 1976. The story was called "The Sword in the Star! Stave 2: Witchworld!" and was written by Bill Mantlo with artwork by Keith Giffen. Rocket was presented as an alien animal that bore a close resemblance to an Earth raccoon, but had been genetically altered by robots to have increased intellect and the ability to speak. Rocket then made his official debut as a Marvel Universe character in ''Incredible Hulk'' #271 in 1982, and also appeared in issues 272 and 279 before branching off into his own four-issue Rocket Raccoon limited series in 1985. * Star-Lord: Star-Lord is a half-human and half-Spartoi cosmic adventurer. He was created by Steve Englehart and Steve Gan and first appeared in ''Marvel Preview'' #4 in January, 1976. He was one of the main characters featured in ''Guardians of the Galaxy'', Volume 2 and ''Guardians of the Galaxy'', Volume 3. Born on Earth, his mother was killed by aliens, prompting Quill to seek revenge. He joined NASA and impersonated a man who had been chosen by the Master of the Sun to take on the role of a cosmic policeman under the title Star-Lord. Star-Lord revised his costume, weaponry and attitude some years later and became involved in the Annihilation Conquest incident, which subsequently gave birth to the modern-era iteration of the Guardians of the Galaxy. * Tana Nile: In this episode, Tana Niles appears as a character on a video game called Space Battle, which Pete and Sam are seen playing in the beginning of the episode. The comic version of Tana Nile is not a character from a video game, but is actually a female member of the Rigellian race. She was originally conceived as a foe of Thor back in ''Thor'', Volume 1 #129 in 1966, but later became a member of the Daydreamers. Quotes * Groot: I am Groot! See also External Links * * * * * * References ---- Category:Ultimate Spider-Man/Episodes Category:Ultimate Spider-Man/Season 2 episodes Category:2013/Episodes Category:July, 2013/Episodes